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Now I will give you a short answer
I found this on the website listed below.
Classical 1750 to 1810
You will want to listen for more defined musical forms. The use of Sonata Allegro form is prevalent in all Classical Instrumental music from concerti to Sonatas to Symphonies to the chamber music. The most common compositional forms during this time were instrumental Sonatas, Concerti and symphonies. Mozart composed an abundant amount of Operas however all 3 major Classical composers - Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven amassed a huge repertoire of chamber music.
The rise of the piano concerto took place in this time especially with the works of Mozart. The Vienesse style is best classified with a delicate sound with thin textures. This sound is closely associated with Mozart, Kuhlau and Clementi. In Hadyn, listen for the humor! Haydn often uses musical jokes to play around with the audience. Unresolved cadences, odd resolutions, surprising key modulations. His music is fairly clean in texture as well. For Beethoven, listen for the use of counterpoint as a dramatic tool but also for a thicker texture. His music is suspenseful and one can hear the tension build up.
Other Classical tips include listening for the defined movements. The first movement usually is in Sonata form with an Exposition that moves from tonic to dominant, a development which develops themes from the Exposition and a recapitulation where the music moves back from the dominant and/or other keys to the tonic. The second movement is slow - typically an adagio or andante, the third movement is a scherzo or minuet and trio while the final movement is a Rondo, sometimes theme and variations.
The symphonic structure was adopted in the Classical time. More significant works were composed including the 9 Beethoven, the 100 plus Haydn and the 40 some Mozart Symphonies. You will notice that Romantic Symphonies are thicker in texture because the orchestration calls for more instruments but also the use of more brass instruments. Classical symphonies are usually strings, basson, flute, oboe, french horn, trumpet and timpani.
The symphonic structure was adopted in the Classical time. More significant works were composed including the 9 Beethoven, the 100 plus Haydn and the 40 some
Mozart Symphonies. You will notice that Romantic Symphonies are thicker in texture because the orchestration calls for more instruments but also the use of more brass instruments. Classical symphonies are usually strings, basson, flute, oboe, french horn, trumpet and timpani.
Romantic Music 1810 to 1890
The shift here is from absolute music to program music. Romantic music tells a story, and you should be able to pick up the story the composer is trying to tell. The use of forms is manipulated and often ignored! New forms are introduced to tell stories. As well the music is much thicker in texture, much more expressive especially with the use of rubato, and much more virtuosic. In the Romantic Generation, music was directly influenced from literary means.
The Romantic Symphony calls for a larger string section, a full compliment of winds (flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon and piccolo), full compliment of brass intruments (trumpet, trombone, french horn and occasionally Euphonium) and percussion. Liszt was credited for the first piece ever to use triangle in the Eb piano concerto.
However, the biggest compositional form was the lied. Vocal music took a major change in this time! From the use of Choirs in the Baroque to solo works and concert pieces in the Romantic. Schubert, Brahms, Schumann were all composers of Lieder.Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms all composed songs. Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn did as well but on a smaller scale. All composers at this time composed at least 1 song cycle with Schubert carrying the bulk of the work.
Listen for sweeping musical lines that soar and are super expressive. You will hear music that represents Gondoliers singing in Venice (Mendelssohn's Venetian Boat Songs, Chopin Barcarolle), stories to other countries (the use of folk music from all over e.g. Years of Pilgrimage by Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody's by Liszt, Chopin's Mazurka's and Polonaises), the use of poetry in music...
Another major change was the use of harmonic language. Modulations to unrelated keys was frequent and demonstrated with ease by Chopin and Schubert. Expanded 7th chords were used, and the wide spread use of Augmented 6th chords took place. Harmonically, the music is more advanced than that of the classical period as composers experimented more with harmonies to assist in telling the story or setting the mood of the piece.
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